Some people will foolishly comment "children should never be allowed near a firearm," the reason that comment is foolish is because in the United States guns are everywhere, or as supposedly stated by Isoroku Yamamoto "there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." While one who believes keeping children away from guns may not have any guns in their home, chances are good their neighbors do have guns, lots of guns. As such responsible parents will begin teaching their children about gun safety at a young age, with the first step being if you see a gun don't touch it and inform an adult of what you discovered. However when it comes to true gun safety nothing works better than to let a child fire a gun under controlled conditions, that is the one sure method to experience the raw power of a gun and to make sure a child understands once a bullet leaves the barrel it cannot be recalled and it will eventually hit something, and if that something is a pet, a person or a good friend, the child and his parents life will forever be turned upside down. This article is excerpted from GUNS Magazine provides some real good tips when it comes to training children how to be safe and properly use a gun. To read the full article click on the link below. https://gunsmagazine.com/discover/raise-em-right/ Raise ’Em Right Kids And The Shooting Sports Written By Will Dabbs, MD Guns are innately dangerous and it is the allure of power under control that makes them so appealing on a visceral level. Whether we acknowledge it or not, most everybody is naturally drawn to weapons. As a result, breaking in a young shooter properly is an art. To do so safely and well requires the right tools. I still find my heart flutters a bit in the presence of a proper airsoft gun. For a kid just developing an interest in the shooting sports, they strike a great balance between excitement and safety. There is just so much damage a kid can do with an airsoft gun. You need to enforce the eye protection rule mercilessly, but airsoft guns can do a fine job of introducing a child to the responsibility accompanying all dangerous things. By safely wielding dangerous things man ultimately conquered the American wilderness, spawned NASCAR and the NFL, and will someday leave human footprints on Mars. Spring-action airsoft guns look real, yet remain remarkably inexpensive. The handguns typically require you to jack the slide manually with each shot, but these simple guns will still easily punch through a paper target.
I was started on gun safety by the age of 3 with the toy guns I was given. Despite them being toys (my first was a Roy Rogers cap gun rig), my da required me to observe the basic gun safety rules, violating them around him meant loss of privileges. I raised my girls in the same way. By the age of 10, they could identify the action of any gun and knew how to safe and unload most guns they might encounter, unlike many adults these days. Both earned my absolute confidence with guns and other behavior. By 13, each had saved money, allowance & baby sitting, to buy their own Anshultz .22s. Both are better shots than my old eyes with iron sights. Both now married and have their own collections, including carry guns. I have little doubt the next gen will be raised well. Few parents these days take the time to educate their children, often abdicating that responsibility to the state, and fewer yet recognize teaching gun safety and discipline pays dividends in transferable to other life and survival skills. Throw an emergency of any type at either of them and they won’t fold.
Not only will they not fold, they make the best neighbors one can have. There are three generations of family living in the home just North of me, and I know from conversations, they are well armed. Last year on a Sunday morning June 16, I was woken up by a Gestapo like knock on my front door, I put on a pair of shorts looked out the door and noticed the guy knocking was one of the boys (35yo) from next door, turned out there was a car parked outside of my gate, the passenger went next door and was was checking out their trucks to see if any where un-locked, this caused a couple of their dogs to begin barking, the idiot went back over my fence (a field fence) tripped, hit the ground hard and with the dogs still barking, tried the doors on our trucks, well it seems he was suddenly greeted by two of my neighbors boys, one had a flashlight and the other a Remington 700, the idiot wisely walked to the center of my driveway and laid there face down to wait for the Sheriff's department to show up. The idiot was begging continuously to be allowed to leave, he claimed was broke and just needed to find something he could sell to pay rent and buy some food, When the Deputies showed up his story changed, he claimed we pointed guns at him, gave him a beating and tossed him to the ground, the video from the NE camera on my home didn't match his claim and clearly showed him trying to open my wife's truck. The girl driving the car just stayed there and eventually was blocked from leaving by a patrol car once they arrived, in it they found drugs, a pipe and another rifle that was stolen a week before from another neighbor, I guess he either couldn't unload it or was just too effed to do so. Both where arrested, the car impounded and it is believed they where involved in a string of vehicle burglaries in this community, while this county has a very low crime rate, we have just to the East of us a community named Harlem and every so often folks over there decide it would be a good idea to come over here and steal things, it's a very stupid maneuver, there is literally only one way in and that's the only way out of here by vehicle. If their is a crime in progress all the Sheriff's department needs to do is dispatch tp the scene and block Hendry Isles at 80, if someone trying to leave doesn't live here they could very well have a problem trying to leave. Bottom line it's nice living in an area where neighbors are aware of what is going on and have the brass to get involved, versus just calling 911 and repeating OMG, OMG, OMG, hurry up and get here. Sadly those same people seem to be the ones who claim we should give up our guns, while knowing nothing about gun ownership, other then what they have been programed to believe by well funded anti-gun lobbies.
Some people claim neighborhoods without guns are the most safe. Your story shows crime can be an import. Those neighborhoods that are well armed often have shared values, watch each other’s backs, come to the assistance of those in need (whether assistance is defined as for common protection, or as any other assistance for someone in need), and often, through subtle peer pressure, encourage safety, etiquette, and recognition of the individual rights of others. My experience is, when the young are out of line, the community steps in to help guide them and provide role models. In FL, where I think you reside, given the periodic hurricane, that are the kind of people you want about you. Those that disagree with that statement haven’t lived it.
I could shoot and reload ammo at 9 years old. A friend of mine knew where his father hid his revolver and when dad wasn't home, he showed it to me by pointing it at my face. He said "Its not loaded!" After taking a side step and taking it from him, I told him there was no such thing as an unloaded gun. Of course, it was loaded. I believe its important to teach kids gun safety even if there is no gun in the home. My friend thought he was going to dry-fire a loaded 44 magnum at my face.
Well I believe on responsibility is to prepare children life survival skills, look both ways crossing a road, how to not cut yourself with a knife, how to swim, which animals are dangerous and the hundreds, if not thousands of other bits of knowledge and skills of for independently surviving the dangers encountered in life. Considering the number of guns in this country, and the periodic encounters we know happen in reality, of a child or child’s friend, encountering a firearm, you’d think equipping a child with knowledge would provide greater potential of survival knowledge that that of sources like cartoons, tv, movies and games. Your story, is a good illustration of the value of that survival knowledge over the friend that would have killed you. I know many might say, always keep guns from children and they will be safe. Ok, but this is reality and reality doesn’t always follow idealistic wishes of those living outside it.
My Mother sent my Brother and I to YMCA Camp for a week back in the 60's. Cool Y-Camp up in the mountains somewhere east of Monterrey or Santa Cruz. This Y-Camp had all the expected activities. Boating, swimming, archery, hiking, arts & crafts, etc... And, of course, shooting. The 50 foot shooting range was run by an ex-Gunny and boy, was he strict. On our first day there, every kid was trained on the rules of the range as well as all the other activities at the Camp. Groups of us rotated to all activities that first day. We were all given a five buck "account" so we could buy our supplies we needed to do some of the activities. When it was free time where you could do activity you wanted to do, you could usually find me at the range. The .22 rounds for the single shot rifles they used were one cent each. That's what people did back in '67. Even though there were no parents around, their kids were shooting firearms under the guidance of trained counselors. I was eight years old.
